When the first snowflake hit my nose, I knew that it wasn’t a snowflake. The ash was made for drowning us; the flames were made for burning against our eyes. We were only kids, but now we were kids who had seen something burn, not just fade away. We were something, maybe not to the rest of the city, but to the sky. Oh, we were the sky.
Only one building burned. Only one building collected summer’s heat on a winter’s day. Only one building mattered in this moment, and it was ours. We could see our bedrooms shoot sparks onto the street, as the other neighborhood children danced barefoot and dodged around them. Our books were just piles of midnight soot, only useful for helping us stamp our way to the town square. Our front door, no longer red – or existent for that matter – could no longer keep anybody out. Our gardens weren’t growing, our windows weren’t shining, and our spirits weren’t broken. Oh, God, we were so alive.
I ran to my brothers, punching them in the arms to show our success. We were the kings and queen of this street now, even though our castle was gone. We could be dissenters, bandits of broad daylight.
“How fun will it be when mom and dad see this? Imagine their faces! They’ll be glowing from the flames! Oh, they’ll absolutely love it,” we chuckled, as we danced on our barren creation, “What a time this is!”
By now, the adults began to shuffle out of their little storybook pages, wondering why the sky had turned gold.
“The delinquents,” one screeched, “they’ve burned their own house down!”
“It’s about time,” said the old woman down the road, bowing her head, as we threw our cloudy confetti throughout the air.
We had created a utopian land, where we were no longer constrained to four walls and a blaring radio. We were the kings and queen of the city now, even though our castle was gone.
Soon, the sirens blared and the children shrieked as the magnificent red engines roared towards the fire. But what could they stop? What could they do except build our world even more. At this point, they had no choice but to be the fire’s friend. To be our friend. Our subjects, kissing our dirtied feet with open eyes.
The ash continued to snow down. And we were everything to the sky. Oh, we were the sky. Our hearts could not run any quicker; our pleasure could not ride into town any faster. There is something about a fire that makes us believe in everything that we never knew we could be. We could start over, just the three of us! What a world to see! What songs to be sung, and letters to be written to the children back here! We could be heroes! For more than a single day. The sky will last forever and so will we!
“God, what a beautiful painting you’ve created! With all the ambers and the reds and the blacks! What a world you’ve made; what a city you’ve broken!” I bellowed towards the seas of smoke above me, outstretching my arms to be taken up to the sky. I screamed one more time and then closed my eyes.
God only knows we were the kings and queen, even though our castle was gone.
